Night on the horizon: Twilight rewrite (second draft)
by Exedous
Summary: The second drafts of "Between the Night and Day." Will be updated infrequently.


[Prologue]

This is not some sloppily written love story about how a standard everyday school girl fell in love with a vampire. In fact, if anyone tried to construe my life as such, the story would probably need to be really contradictory and I would need to be portrayed as a complete idiot. It's a story about how a predator hunted down its prey and how the prey attempted to resist even as its resistance was rendered very quickly futile.

I never really gave much thought as to how exactly I would die but to be fair, I had never been given much reason to do so, that is, until these few months anyway.

"Well Hanami-" I think to myself as I press my back up against the coarse brick and mortar wall. "You're going to die." If I were some sort of superhero, I could probably have broken down the brick wall and continued fleeing, but alas, I am not and my retreat is cut off.

If I hadn't been in absolute fear, I would have been surprised at how calm I was, but then again, adrenaline does weird things to you.

If I had never gone to that small town of Forks, I probably would have been at home, in bed, listening to music, likely some Japanese rock music, while reading the latest manga series that happened to catch my eye. Alas, here I am, tired, alone, no backup, no escape, and no hope. I suppose I should be glad that it's me and not someone else who is going to take this because I couldn't really imagine subjecting a random person to what is about to happen.

Even with that thought though, it still doesn't give me any comfort in my current situation. I can't even rely on the weapon in my hands, a .45 caliber ACP Colt 1911 semi-automatic handgun. It was a standard model without aftermarket upgrades, seven shots, black plastic furniture. I had expended six bullets previously on one warning shot and five hastily aimed backhand shots I had carelessly taken while running away and attempting to find the nearest large crowd. That plan hadn't worked out so well, he cornered me in the old warehouse district by the old docks, hence the brick wall.

With shaking hands, I raise the handgun and close my left eye so that the only thing I saw through my right eye was the weapon's leaf blade ironsight superimposed over my predator's smirking face. My trembling hands align the back notch sight with the blade front sight, the glow-in-the dark dots of the night sights aligned into a straight line, or as close to one as I can get it, and position the center dot right between his eyes. I take a deep breath a my target saunters slowly closer and steel my resolve.

I slowly squeeze the trigger but by bad luck and by mechanism of a god who likely hates me, my trembling hands move just a bit too much and my subconscious brain will not allow me to kill someone to preserve my own life, even if the only thing lost would be a monster. The gun discharges with thunderous crack and the slide locks back with a click. Empty. The bullet whizzes by my enemy's head by a centimeter, the air displaced by its passing ever so slightly disturbs his hair and he looks at me incredulously, as if he was expecting a different response.

"Now Hanna, I know you want this deep down. Just relax. It's just like a little mosquito bite." he chides as if I were some small child.

"Hanami-san." I bite out to correct him, but he ignores it.

My stupid self had apparently forgotten additional ammunition when I had left the house because when I fumbled around in my jacket pocket, I couldn't find the spare magazine. So I drop the gun on the ground and yank out my pocket knife. The spring assist is strong enough that it's essentially a switch blade and I ready it even if it is essentially worthless against my current foe.

"Stay away from me damnit!" I yell.

Unfortunately, he seems to take this as some sort of invitation and lunges towards me with the superhuman speeds which bely his true nature. I jab forward with the blade of the knife but an unnaturally strong arm turns the blade away and before I can process what happened, my foe pins both my arm and my upper torso to the wall. I feel my wrist snap and I gasp at the pain.

"C'mon Hanna. Just relax." My enemy chides as he tightens his grip on my broken wrist and my shoulder. "It'll all be over soon."

"Rot in hell." I manage to bite out even as tears swell up and obscure my vision.

In my final moments I highly suspect that his grasp of the english language is heavily deficient because he apparently translated the words "rot in hell" to "bon appetit" because at that moment he bites down into my neck.

[Chapter 1]

My mother drove me the the airport with the windows rolled down. It was cool, and by that I didn't mean that it was interesting though I suppose it might have been. What I meant was that it was around seventy-five degrees fahrenheit in Phoenix, Arizona, relatively cool for what should have been a blisteringly hot day. The sky was clear blue for as far as the eye could see with not a puff of white in sight, which meant that it wasn't going to be raining any time soon. Pity that. The South-west always could use a bit more water.

As we pulled into the airport, I ran a quick inventory check and deduced that on my person there was a white t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans, a pen, pencil, memo-pad, cell phone with small keychain animal, Ipod, earbuds, and wallet along with a hairband that kept my hair up in a ponytail that not only looked stylish but also kept it out of my face. In my hands was a duffle bag that was to be my carry on luggage and contained my computer, chargers, various manga, two DVDs, and some cold weather clothing.

My destination was to be a small town in the northwest of Washington called Forks. It was a small, dreary affair where it was cloudy and rainy for much of the year and snowy for the rest of it but it was also interspersed with days of magnificent sunshine and tranquil blue sky. I always spent my summers there with my dad Jeff and it reminded me of grandma's house in northern Japan. It wasn't that big a deal to me but now I was going there permanently, or at least until I finish my schooling and go to college.

"Hanami-chan," My mother looked at me worriedly. She never really did get around to kicking the habit of appending honorifics to people's names and to be honest, I wanted her to keep using them for me. "You don't have to do this. You know that right?" She asks slightly worried.

Shizuka Zuikaku, my mother, looks like me, only with shorter brown hair and chocolaty brown eyes instead of my long black hair and blue eyes. She looked up at me with that kicked puppy look that people usually lose the ability to utilize at around age 19. I almost fell for it a bit as I realized that I was leaving her, my slightly childish, cutely clumsy and charmingly diligent mother to spend her life all alone. Well, not alone really, she had Jimmy boy so she would be well cared for even if he was just as childish and mildly clumsy as the woman he married. I really had to leave them for a bit, let them get used to each other in the same house and really, I needed to get out more.

"It's gonna be alright Okaasan." I said to her with a gentle smile on my face. "Nothing ventured nothing gained right?"

"Please remember, you'll always be welcome back any time." She said sadly and I could only nod in response and turn away as she proceeded to drive away.

Getting on the plane was a hassle but not as much as it could have been if I hadn't bought a ticket first and it was when I first settled into my window seat on the flight that I realized just how much this was going to change everything. I would have more of the freedoms and responsibilities of an adult. It's so awesome that it occupied me for the entire four hours of the flight. That and the manga I brought.

It had a nice plot, something about vampires and stuff, how the main character tries everything in her power to keep her vampire friend from descending into a monster while said vampire friend hunts down and kills berserk vampires. It's well written if a bit squicky so I actually take the time to enjoy the story.

Jeff is waiting for me at the airport and he greeted me as I stepped off the plane and went over to him. On the plane I put on a dark blue hoodie so the weather didn't get to me and as I handed off my bag to him, we struck up some light conversation. I like my dad, he's fun to be around, even when he's in his Chief Officer Moreau persona that he uses when on the job. Ever since I took up my mother's maiden name of Zuikaku, he's been having me call him Jeff since he liked that name. Somewhere, I knew introducing him to mass effect was a bad idea.

We got into the police cruiser since that seemed to be his only form of motorized transport around this place and I took about half a minute to take in the upholstery on the seats, the equipment on the dashboard and the various subtle signs that the vehicle was well used. As he started up the engine and I made a brief but satisfactory inventory check, he began talking to me about my arrangements. I had originally planned on getting a used car since I didn't have that many funds and I refused to back up traffic because of my catching a ride to school in a police cruiser but apparently Jeff had that taken care of already.

"I got you a good car." He told me as I strapped myself into my seat. "Pretty cheap too."

I of course had to raise my eyebrow at this. "Good for you or just good in general?"

"It's a truck actually, a Chevy."

"You're dodging my question. Where did you get it?"

"Well, you remember Black Billy? The guy who used to go fishing with us during the summer?"

"Yeah, old Bill. Something happen to him?" I liked that guy. He was fun to hang around even if my fishing skill was simply atrocious.

"He's in a wheelchair now." Jeff responded and I winced. The big guy was always so full of life. To think that he would be wheelchair bound for the rest of his life would probably be really painful. "So he can't drive anymore, and he offered me his truck cheap."

"What year is it?" I inquire. I don't really care that much, but it would be some nice information to know. He frowned a bit which is usually not a good sign.

"Bill did a lot of work on the engine. It's only a few years old really."

"When did he buy it?" I ask.

". . . about 1984 I think." He answers sheepishly.

"New?"

"Early sixties I think." He finally answered.

I don't actually care. It's a motorized vehicle that's mine and I didn't spend a single cent on it so as long as it's not a junker, I could care less. Still, something from the sixties is probably going to have something wrong with it eventually and I wouldn't be able to fix it up myself or buy spare parts in case something happens.

"Jeff. Does it work?"

"Oh yeah, it works fine."

"Alright. You know Jeff, I'm not going to turn down a free car. And you didn't have to do that for me. I was going to buy one myself." I smile at him. I love my dad. He always tries his hardest even when he does enough already.

"Well, I just want you to be happy Hanna. I know it's hard moving away from your mom so I want to make sure you're not uncomfortable."

Well, I'm perfectly fine here. I got used to humid and cool weather when we visited grandma in Japan so the only problem I really have is with the town's name, Forks. Briefly I wonder if my new home was named on a drunken bet but I quickly put that thought out of my head.

"Thanks Jeff. You're the best dad ever." I say happily.

"I know. I try." He said, puffing out his chest a bit at my praise.

For the rest of the drive, we mostly talk about our lives so far. I talk about my life and Jimmy-boy and mom's antics and he talks about what he's been doing with his life so far. It's really nice and after the conversation ends, I stare out the window while he concentrates on driving. The scenery on the way to the house is beautiful. Large trees covered in moss extend their branches overhead making a kind of green roof that allows the fading sunlight to filter through and make strange patterns on the road.

Eventually we got to the small two-bedroom house he lived in when he married my mother. It was a small affair but with it's carefully maintained cream colored paint scheme, big windows and red roof, it told me that it once had been full of happy memories. It has a small, meticulously maintained lawn with a green mailbox right in front. In the street in front of the house however, was my car, or at least what I inferred was my car which a quick glance to and nod from Jeff confirmed.

When we pulled into the driveway, I ran up to my car and began inspecting it while Jeff gathered up my stuff to take inside the house. It is a faded red thing with rounded fenders and a big bulbulous cab. To my surprise, the paint was still shiney and a quick look under the hood found me looking at what looked like a mint condition engine. Another lookover had me noticing that it was one of the old style constructions that by modern standards made it built like a tank. It's a collectable in good condition. I could almost taste the money.

In the short term though, I would be able to drive to school instead of taking a two mile hike which for me, was good, especially considering my physical condition. I was not unhealthy, but I was certainly not athletic.

"I'm just saying this again. You are the best dad ever." I reiterated as I grabbed my stuff from the back of the police cruiser.

"It's alright. I know." He reassured me proudly.

Considering I only had the dufflebag and the clothes on my back, it's no surprise that it only took one trip to get my stuff up to my bedroom that faced west out over the yard. It was a quaint little thing with a dark mahogany hardwood floor, light blue painted walls, a peaked ceiling and cream colored lace curtains that framed the window and were slightly yellowed by age. It had belonged to me all my life and the only things that had changed had been the bed and the desk. Both aforementioned additions had been added as I grew up. Next to the desk was a wireless modem with the long black cord stapled along the floor to the phone jack. This was so I could communicate with my mom whenever I wanted.

Jeff was not one to hover though, and he soon left me to unpack most of my things which I suspected would not take very long to do. My laptop went onto the desk with the power cord dropped down behind the desk to take advantage of the wall socket there and setting up the wireless network took approximately five minutes, mostly because I was fiddling with my screen saver. I settled on Jellyfish. My collection of manga went into a small drawer in the desk and all the contents of my pockets were soon arrayed out next to my laptop so that I could pick it back up in the morning.

Forks High School had a total of three hundred and fifty-seven - now fifty-eight - students; there were more than seven hundred people in my junior class back in Phoenix. These people had known each other for all of their lives and almost everyone down to their grandfathers knew each other here. I knew I was probably going to be an oddity, after all, it's not every day that an asian american moved from the hottest and driest state in the union to possibly the wettest.

I didn't really care about what other people thought anyway. I was here to finish up my senior year, and move back south and attend New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology with a major in biochemistry. Ultimately it would be more beneficial for me to focus on my studies rather than on my reputation around school.

I shoved what clothing I had brought into a dresser, grabbed my miscellaneous toiletries and went to the bathroom by the stairs. I briefly made a note that since water was much more abundant here, I could allow myself the luxury of longer showers which I was deprived of due to the drought situation in the south-west. After putting my toothbrush, toothpaste, and other things where they belonged, I decided to clean myself up, after all, I just had a day's travel and I likely didn't look my best. As I finished toweling off, I caught a look at myself in the mirror. I was unusually pale for having come from such a sunny place but Mom, Jeff, and Jimmy-boy had all attributed that to my obstinate refusal to go outside so my skin's pigment level was understandably non-standard. I must admit, I do look rather strange since black hair usually does not go with blue eyes but for some reason, I had inherited the genes for black hair from my mom and blue eyes from Jeff.

It was not really an issue but I had been told that it was a bit of an exotic look which I decided would be nice. After all, a girl has to take at least some pride in her appearance.

I briefly worried about how I would fit in at school since I was normally more reclusive than my colleagues and I was just a bit of a closet Otaku. Mom and Jimmy-boy helped me a lot with my problems and Jeff would always playfully tease me over the phone but I supposed that was a bit because my family was never exactly "normal" or anything of that sort. Ah well, I'd just have to bomb that bridge when I cross it.

Breakfast with Jeff was interesting to say the least. At approximately 6:30 in the morning, I woke up to the sound of the smoke alarm in the kitchen going off. I had been dreaming about fighting off a horde of zombies so in my addled and confused state, I kicked off flower print comforter and made ready either run for my life or grab a philips head screwdriver and stab it into the darkness until it stuck into something. It took me twenty seconds to become coherent enough to understand that is was a smoke alarm and not a raid siren. I bolted down the stairs only to be greeted by the sight of Jeff attempting to extinguish a fire in a pan on the oven. I had almost forgotten that Jeff was complete trash at cooking which was even more emphasized when I saw the line of cereal boxes and instant ramen on the counter.

Thirty minutes later, we had the pan in the sink and the kitchen aired out almost completely though there was still a distinctly smoky smell.

He quickly left after the kitchen fiasco and I took a few minutes to sit at the square oak table with three mismatched chairs and enjoy a nice hot coffee that I had brewed up while attempting to waft the smoke out an open window. I didn't reminisce over anything much, simply preferring to savor the taste of well done coffee. Alas, the peaceful silence couldn't last and ten minutes later, I started packing up and making myself generally presentable.

It seemed as though Jeff remembered one of my less noticeable quirks, my obsession with having a "uniform" to wear at all times. Rather than fuss over my appearance all day and wasting precious time, I would circumvent that and simply wear my uniform which I had picked out a while ago and Jeff had the foresight to order several replicas of what I had planned out. My everyday wardrobe was simple; eight identical sets of white t-shirts, white dress shirts with starched collars, black ties with tie clips and black slacks. Back in Phoenix, I had a reputation as one of the best dressed kids in the entire school and I was not going to let my reputation die now. Besides, since my clothes were all interchangeable, I could buy them in bulk and save myself a lot of hard earned cash while my "compatriots" squandered their money on fads and other such nonsense. The one vanity I let myself wear was a sterling silver analogue watch that had been a gift from grandma when she visited one day and noticed the amount (or lack thereof) of jewelry I had. When I emerged from my room, I was the the textbook definition of classy.

My backpack wasn't actually hard to pack since the textbooks for my class weren't very big or heavy. Come to think of it, I could probably have gotten away with using a book bag but there's no use crying over spilt milk.

Teeth: Brushed and shining.

Uniform: Spotless.

Hair: Washed, brushed, and smelling of strawberries.

Backpack: Packed.

Wristwatch: Wound, polished, and ready.

Half-Windsor Knot: Impeccable.

I put on a jacket and then slung my backpack over my shoulder before I nudged open the door and headed out.

It was slightly drizzling outside when I tossed my backpack into the passenger seat of my truck and started the engine. The upholstery had been redone recently and the tan fabric smelled of peppermint, gasoline, and tobacco. The engine roared to life when I turned the key. The sound was loud, strong, and almost manly, invoking some primal instinct in me that caused me to be invigorated by the sound and feel of raw power. I knew it was actually a bit less powerful than a couple of modern engines but I liked it nonetheless.

The only reason I actually found the school was because of the sign that said Forks High School. The school was a group of maroon bricked buildings nestled between trees and shrubs and it looked more like a residential area than a school. It was, quaint.

I found a building labeled Front Office and parked my truck in the parking spaces in front of it. If there's a parking spot, people were meant to park there so I had no worries. There was a path lined with stone steps and dark hedges of a species I could not readily identify that lead to the entrance of the building so after pulling my dark blue jacket around me, I stepped out of the truck cab and made my way through the rain. The office was small; a little waiting area with padded folding chairs, orange-flecked commercial carpet, notices and awards cluttering the walls, a big clock ticking loudly. Plants grew everywhere in large plastic pots, as if there wasn't enough greenery outside. The room was cut in half by a long counter, cluttered with wire baskets full of papers and brightly colored flyers taped to its front. There were three desks behind the counter, one of which was manned by a large, red-haired woman wearing glasses. She was wearing a purple t-shirt, which I thought was a rather odd shade and I politely didn't comment on it.

The woman looked up at me with a disinterested expression as I shifted uncomfortably around. "Can I help you?" Her tone was flat and even like the tone of an office worker who was buckling under some sort of mind crushing boredom.

"Ah." I started. "I'm Hanami Zuikaku. Please pardon me but I was told that I could get my class schedule and a map here. I'm a bit lost at the moment." I said with an even tone and bowed slightly, bending at the hips.

The woman's eyes seemed to light up with recognition a my name and chuckled a little to herself. She pulled out a class schedule and a campus map from behind her desk and handed both to me. "Here you are. I wish more kids these days would be as polite a you." She said. "There's also a slip that you need to get the teachers to sign."

I took the papers with both hands and bowed again. "Thank you very much. Please have a nice day." and I headed out again.

When I made it back to the truck, other people were starting to arrive so after I quickly reviewed the map and the schedule, I joined the lineup of cars which lead me to another parking lot. A good deal of the vehicles I saw in the lot were just about as old my own ride and I briefly thought back to my own town where I would commonly see tough men with thin girls in fast cars randomly tooling around the neighborhood simply to flaunt their wealth. As soon as I navigated my vehicle into the parking space, I cut the engine and the roar cut off sharply.

I pulled out the map and looked it over, memorizing the most efficient route to my classes so I wouldn't have to waste any time before I stuffed it into my backpack and walked out. Great unknown, here I come.

My state of dress did not go unnoticed by the majority of those people I passed by and as my paradoxical reputation as both new girl and returning "princess" preceded me, I no doubt made quite the oddity as I strode forward. I put on a confident smirk. I learned long ago that if you acted scared when confronted with the products of the rumor mill, your fear only served to grease the already furiously working gears. Confidence was the key when entering any new situation as it generally caused people to take a different perspective and a confident smirk tended to slow down the rumor mill to a marked degree.

As I made my way around the cafeteria, I could spot Building Three which was clearly identified by a large blocky 3 painted on a white square in the east corner of the building. I strode purposefully through the rather wide wooden door and when I entered the classroom, I quickly hung up my jacket on one of a long row of hooks on the wall where I had seen other people doing the same, though I suppose I would have done it anyway since there were jackets there as well.

The class was quite small. That was the first thing I noticed as I reached into my backpack, which I had simply taken to carrying around in my hands, and then handed the slip to the teacher whose eyes widened with a hint of surprise but then settled into an expression of mild curiosity. I guess news of my arrival had not gotten around to the teaching staff yet. Mr. Mattson was a rather tall, balding man and his desk had a name tag and several books which were likely the reading material since this was a lit class, at least, that's what my schedule said.

"Alright class, settle down!" He said and the whispering in the classroom stopped as every eye focused on him and me. "We have a new transfer student joining us today." He announced and then motioned for me to introduce myself.

I stepped forward and faced the class. "Hello. My name is Hanami Zuikaku. I am 18 years old. My parents are divorced. My father is Police Chief Moreau while my mother is Shizuka Zuikaku. I hope that we can get along this year." I politely said with a pleasant smile.

After that, I took the empty seat at the back of the classroom. My classmates actually managed to stare at me even when I sat in the back and while I found this amusing, I also found acknowledging it to be a pointless exercise. I looked at the reading list and the course syllabus and found to my surprise that I had actually done all of the reading already and I still had scanned versions of my notes on my computer. I frowned slightly as I wouldn't really be learning anything new in this class but nevertheless, I had my duty as a student and as my duty dictated, I pulled out my pen and paper and began taking notes on what the teacher was saying. Perhaps my new teacher would provide a different perspective on the course material, literature is highly subjective after all.

Class ended when the school bell rang, though it was more of a buzzer than a bell really, though both were equally annoying, and as I was packing up, an otherwise average looking guy with mild acne, slick black hair and eyes that twinkled with an intelligence that hopefully rivaled my own, leaned over to me.

"You're Hanami Zuikaku right?" He asked showing mild interest.

"Yes, I am. My father calls me Hana though, it's a bit easier to say." I replied politely and I noted that some people who had heard that particular tidbit had filed that away as useful but not immediately relevant. "I don't know your name though."

"I'm Eric." He said quickly. "Where's your next class?"

I reached into my bag and shuffled around for a bit before pulling out my schedule to consult it. "Ah. Government with Jefferson in building six." I replied.

"I'm headed to building four. I could show you the way if you want." He offered offhandedly.

"I've memorized the school map but a little company on the way couldn't hurt." I said. After all, it couldn't hurt to make some friends on my first day of school right?

I stuffed everything into my backpack and made sure it was zipped up before I headed over to the line of hooks and retrieved my coat. Eric got his as well, an oldish blue thing that was rapidly fading from age and looked well used but well cared for. After getting everything in order and I smoothed out the crinkles in my pants, we headed out into the rain, though the drizzling had turned into something more akin to a fine sprinkling instead of anything really resembling rain.

"So, how are you liking it here? Any different from Phoenix?" He asked as he escorted me along the cobblestone pathways that connected the buildings together. He kept outside of my personal space and was generally very courteous.

"It's definitely different." I told him respectfully. "It's a bit wetter than I'm used to. Arizona only gets a few inches of water a year and that's including the snow."

"Wow." He said. "So what's that like?"

"Pretty sunny actually."

He raised an eyebrow at me and remarked. "You're pretty pale then." He observed.

"I . . . I actually don't get out very much. Everyone says that's the reason for my skintone." I reply with a slight blush at admitting one of my abnormalities.

For a moment, I wondered why he was acting nice to me, especially considering my status and the amount of material that the rumor mill is no doubt working up. I'm not really going to question him since he's been nothing but gentlemanly so far, but it does raise my suspicions.

We chatted some more, discussing likes, dislikes and general interests until we arrived in front of a building that was marked in the same way as the previous building, with a black, blocky 6. The uniformity of the buildings ever so slightly amused me for some reason. Eric escorted me right to the door and we stopped for a bit, waiting in slightly awkward silence.

"Well. Here we are." He said hesitantly. "Good luck Hana."

I turned to face him and bowed slightly. "Thank you for escorting me. I was worried that I would be alone here for a while." I reply.

He blinked and began laughing. He had a pretty nice laugh. It was hearty, honest, and it put a smile on my face because of how natural it sounded. He collected himself and wiped away a tear from his eye.

"Oh. I'm sorry about that. My mom told me that new people would be easier to make friend with." He said. "I guess it worked."

"Do you not have friends here?" I asked inquisitively. I really could see nothing wrong with his personality and he really wasn't bad in the looks department though he wasn't exactly the image of Adonis either.

"Not really." He replied. "I have people I hang out with, but not really any friends."

So that's why he was being so nice to me. I actually felt a bit guilty for suspecting him of ulterior motives but my guilt was quickly reined in by my sense of pragmatism. I couldn't have known and he didn't know I suspected him so if he wasn't hurt, there wasn't really a problem.

"If you would like. I'll be your friend." I offered to him in as kind a voice I could offer. I didn't extend any pity though. Pity was a useless thing and before anything else, Eric was a male member of the human race so pity would hurt him more than anything else.

"Really?" He perked up. He had a genuine smile on his face and I felt warm inside. It was the warmth and satisfaction of doing the right thing and it was something that my mother had taught me to crave. We parted ways on good terms.

The rest of the morning went uneventfully. Trigonometry did not go well since, for some reason, I kept spacing out in class, possibly due to the level of abstraction required and my inability to comprehend it in a timely fashion. We were working with inverse trig functions and I had a distinct feeling that I would struggle with the homework that night. I was good at math, but I did not like it in any way.

My next class was Spanish. The entire time I was in class, I had the distinct feeling I should have taken the German class and that feeling was only compounded when the teacher spend the entire time lecturing and left us to our own devices after about 30 minutes. When I yanked out a fountain pen to scratch at my homework with, I caught several people's eyes on me, caused either by my being the only person actually working or because of my rather 'unique' stationary. Somehow I suspected it would be both but I was not here to make friends, I was here to learn Spanish and if the teacher wouldn't teach me effectively than I would simply have to learn it myself.

After spanish, I had lunch and rather than wander around aimlessly, I elected to follow my peers even if I use the term very loosely for the particular specimens I decided to follow. The specimens in question were a pair of two girls, one with black hair and one with blond hair and both were utterly forgettable.

Eric waved at me from across the Cafeteria when I walked in. He was at the other end of a table across the brightly lit room with tables arrayed out lengthwise along the large room with tiled flooring and I half suspected the Cafeteria had other uses when not serving hungry students. Back to the point, Eric was also sitting with a group of people who, while strange looking, looked relatively smart. According to the idle gossip and chatter that I was picking up, that was the nerds table. Perfect. Fellow nerds.

I quickly acquired my food, evidently some sort of cafeteria casserole, a side dish that I could not positively identify, an apple and a drink, and moved to sit over at the nerd table. I felt rather comfortable there and I spent less of my time eating my food and more of my time bantering over star trek or some other mundane thing. They were all very polite though and while they were occasionally childish, it was a good exercise of mental capability in which I had to use my intellectual faculties to counter their points with my own arguments.

The group consisted of six people, Eric obviously, and other than him, three more guys, two standard nerds but also identical twins whom I was asked to call Jeremy and Joe and a big guy, Archie, who was very well built athletically but very book smart as well and two girls, one blond and one brunette, Annette and Alexis, both with with the telltale pale skin and light constitution that bode of not getting out much. They were sort of like me, except caucasian, without the uniform and without the forcefulness that punctuated some of my arguments.

Overall, my first lunch at Forks High School could not have gone any better if I hadn't spotted "them," though in hindsight, it was probably a good thing because an enemy in plain sight was better than an enemy unknown.

The people in question was a group of five, three guys and two girls. They were sitting in a corner of the cafeteria and they weren't eating anything. Trays of perfectly good food sat in front of them untouched while they stared at it, each other, or off into space. It was not the sort of staring of persons burdened with great intelligence. A person thus occupied by his ruminations would usually have a sort of sharpness to the eyes, indicating that the mind underneath was firing, if not at full speed, at least enough to hijack other sensory functions. In short, sort of like Archie as he mulled over a counter to one of my arguments. They also did not possess the stare of traumatized people which was usually blank and lifeless, as if a thief in the night had stolen away all life and light and hope, leaving an empty shell behind.

No. This group of people were staring off into the distance because of an arrogant assuredness in their own superiority and they were averting their eyes because in their minds, nothing was worth their imperious gaze. They were the kind of people who pissed me off quite frankly, and I made a note to gather information on them so that I may better avoid them.

"Hey." I reached over and prodded at Eric with my spoon and jacked my thumb over at the group when he turned to look at me.

"Who are those guys?"

He frowned. "Those guys? They're the Cullens. They moved in from Alaska about two years ago though they never gave a reason." He said with a hint of distaste. "They're the adopted kids of Dr. Cullen. Why do you want to know?"

"They don't really seem like nice people." I remarked as I looked out of the corner of my eye.

"No, they're not. They're Edward, Emmett, and Alice Cullen and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. Of the five of them, the only good one is Alice. I might be biased because I'm a guy but at least she has good grades and keeps her nose clean. The rest of them are really arrogant for no reason, dead last grades, really shady types but all the girls like them anyway."

He immediately received a sharp jab in the side from the Annette who was sitting next to him.

"Okay, most of them." He amended.

I looked over to Archie to get his opinion and he grunted.

"They're all attractive." He admits. "But that's just about it. They're socially awkward and Alice is just about the only one who even bothers to try. Try and get to know Alice, the short one, she's a top notch student and handles herself well but stay away from the others, they're bad news. Edward's the youngest one, and then there's Emmett and Jasper in that order. The last one is Rosalie."

Okay then, understood. Get to know the smart one, stay away from the ones who likely have criminal records, sounds simple enough. I looked over at them cautiously as Alice suddenly stood up from the table and dumped her perfectly good food in the trash, though she took the apple. As I'm looking, Edward looks up directly into my eyes. We held eye contact for approximately three seconds and a small sort of twinkle appeared in his eyes before he looked away disinterestedly and I shrugged it off as a trick of the light.

I felt a very small attraction to him though, but when I took into account everything I knew of him and what I had currently observed, I squashed that down like the bug that it was and didn't feel it rising again. I'd been going through my life acknowledging that there were two genders only scientifically and my pent up and/or supressed sexuality was probably coming back, with a vengeance this time.

After a few minutes, they picked up their trays and left, dumping all their perfectly good food in the trash bin. What a waste, at least Alice had taken the apple, yet another reason to not associate with them on top of the 'shining reviews' that my friends had given them.

I actually stayed around at lunch longer than I should have, partially because of a discussion about the differences between a hyperspace drive and a warp drive. I was determined not to be tardy to any of my classes on my first day of school so I, and Alexis surprisingly enough, had to make a dead sprint for Biology 2.

The classroom, like all the other science classrooms that I had encountered in my life, was full of black topped tables with similar counters off to the sides with drawers and sinks. There was an alleyway made by the tables and counters leading directly to the safety shower for easy access during an emergency. Surprisingly though, there were not preserved specimens in jars lining the walls so that was good. Unfortunately my day took a downturn when I spotted where the only empty seats were. There were two, one at the far end of the room, apparently assigned to Alexis, and another one right next to Edward Cullen in all his lanky, rusty haired 'glory' who was, to my surprise, still brooding. I turned to Alexis pleadingly.

"Trade seats?" I asked hopefully and put on my best innocent and demure schoolgirl impression.

She chuckled at my predicament before sticking her tongue out at me and taking her sweet time to saunter over to her seat. Who the hell saunters anymore?

I walked up to the teacher, taking the long way around along the outside of the tables, it would keep me from navigating between the veritable maze of tables as well as keep my distance from Mr. Cullen as long as possible, and handed the slip to the teacher who signed it quickly and assigned me to the last spare seat. I went to it but I took my time, attempting to drag it out before the teacher called on me to hurry it up.

When I got to the seat, Cullen sat up rigidly and stared at me with a hostile and furious expression to which I shot my own glare of indignation and sat there. For the sake of my education, I was willing to act professional in my interactions with him including course work and should I find that impossible I would at least act civilly. I sat down in the chair and yanked out my materials for class and prepared the appropriate stationary for note taking.

We were going over cellular anatomy in class. I had already gone over that stuff in junior year in high school, was I stuck in the year behind me or something? Edward seemed to have actively moved over to the other side of the table and was actually leaning away from me. I was perfectly fine with it. It gave me more room to put my stuff, not that there was much of it anyway but papers took up space. I really could just print out everything on my laptop at home and use those notes instead. Actually, if I was reading the class syllabus correctly, I was all set for the rest of the year. Funny that.

He was really tense for the entire time though the only reason I noticed was because while acting professionally, I was obligated to not do something to actively antagonize my colleague and in order to do so, I needed to check my actions with his reactions. The clenched fist resting on his left leg was a good indication of his distress.

During one of my brief checks, I found him glaring at me out of some kind of revulsion though the reason I could not tell why. To my later shame, I broke my veneer of professionalism and shot my own glare right back before I returned to my review of materials so as to calm myself and regain my shattered composure. I would have to drill myself on dealing with small annoyances later.

The bell finally rang and my 'esteemed colleague' was out of his chair and out of the room before anyone had even finished packing up. Well, good riddance to bad rubbish I say. Packing up all of my stuff and dropping it into my backpack took thirty seconds and I was out the door with my head in my hands, massaging my temples in a vain attempt to alleviate my headache. Unfortunately, I was unable to effectively remember the correct path to my next class so I simply waited around the outside of the building until the dull throbbing in my head subsided. After checking my uniform to make sure that it had not fallen apart while I was focused on my turmoil, I debated with myself over if I should pull out my map and schedule to check or simply ask for directions.

Fortunately, that problem resolved itself when a boy walked up to me with a smile. He was baby faced and had blond hair gelled into orderly spikes. He looked like a pretty nice guy, or at least someone I could comfortably have my back to though I was careful to reserve my judgements..

"Hanami Zuikaku?" He inquired, more to see if that was actually my name than to get my attention.

"Yes." I replied with a pleasant smile. "You may call me Hana if my first name is too long. I apologize, but I do not believe I ever got your name."

"I'm Mike."

"Good afternoon Mike. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Do you need help finding your next class? You looked kinda lost."

"Yes, unfortunately. I need to head to the gym."

"Really?" He brightened up. "I'm heading there too. I'll take you there." He offered.

I was not going to turn down a companion, nor was I going to turn down directions so I accepted his invitation. The walk to the gym was rather pleasant with him supplying much of the conversation. He was a resident of California until he was ten and afterward had moved to Forks due to reasons that not even he fully understood. As it turned out, he was in my Literature class as well as my biology class so he had heard my initial introduction which was why he knew my name beforehand. At one point, I asked why he was being so nice to a newcomer and he told me that he made it a habit to get to know new people and then he countered by questioning why I was dressed formally.

"Well, it's business casual really. Besides, I'd rather not fuss over clothes every morning so I chose a look and stuck with it. If people are bothered by it, that's their problem, not mine." I replied pointedly. "And it helps me with my image of professionalism."

"Yeah, I noticed you trying to be around Edward Cullen. Did you stab him with a pencil or something? I've never seen him act like that." He asked as we walked into the hallway of the Gym.

I scoffed at the notion, and also at Edward, but mostly at the notion.

"No, but I wish I could have. What, is he your friend or something?"

"Not really, but he looked like he was in pain or something."

"Well good. Serves him right."

"Well." He said as we stopped outside of the locker rooms. "If I had been lucky enough to sit next to you. I would have talked to you."

"That's really nice of you." I gave him a charming smile that this time was not simply a smile between co-workers. "Anyway, I'd better go. You be careful alright?"

"I'm always careful." He replied, puffing out his chest. That caused us to burst out into laughter before I headed into the dressing room with a wave over my shoulder.

I changed quickly. After folding up my clothes and tossing my backpack into the locker, I headed out to report for PE though I was quickly surprised that the Coach allowed me to sit out and observe the class. Today was apparently volleyball, my least favorite game in the world. It's not that I was particularly bad at Volleyball or any ball games in general, but my presence seemed to throw off people's aim or at least adjust their aim towards myself considering the number of times I've been pegged both my my own teammates and the other team. I was nicknamed "the misfortune magnet" and back in Phoenix, the coach often let me sit out for my own safety as well as make games a bit more fair.

Before the bell had rung, I had already gone inside to change back into my standard Uniform and while the rain had apparently decided to call it quits for the day, the wind had decided to pick up even more. After checking that everything about my person was as impeccable as it was going to be, I headed out into the cold with my backpack slung over my shoulder. The heavy winds caused my jacket to flap about wildly and my hair to blow around, often getting in my face even when most of it was pulled back into my customary ponytail. The walk to the main office was not particularly grueling but it was most certainly unpleasant which fouled my previously good mood only slightly more than what I saw when I got to the front desk.

Or rather, who I saw.

Mister Cullen, my lanky, coppery bronze haired 'comrade' was arguing with the receptionist about trading sixth hour biology with literally any other biology course. Well, I was certainly not going to argue with that. I was of the inclination that it would be a rather pleasant turn of events, considering the interactions I've had with him so far. I strode purposefully up to the desk with my paperwork in my hand and waited patiently for the Receptionist to acknowledge me, which she did. This also caused Mister Cullen to notice me as well, oh joy. He glared at me with eyes full of hate and for a moment, my fight or flight response turned on, preparing me to do battle with my perceived threat, but I kept it discreet as I handed in my paperwork without so much as looking at my 'colleague' and after the papers were filed away, I spoke up.

"Excuse me ma'am."

"Yes?" She asked, looking up at me.

"I was wondering if I could obtain a transfer to a different class period for sixth hour biology. I had a conflict with one of my fellow students and I fear that I will not be able to act in a professional manner around him. I get the distinct impression that he would prefer not to work with me as well." I replied easily. "I am certain that such a conflict is not conducive to a healthy learning environment so for both our sakes, I would request that we no longer have prolonged contact."

She frowned slightly and pulled out a paper and pen.

"Would you happen to know the name of the person?" She asked.

"Me." Mister Cullen finally interjected.

"Hush now." I mocked him. "The adults are talking."

His response was a glare which I shot back with equal force. I could have snarled if I had not trained myself to not do such things. We tried to work around the issue but it was to no avail and the receptionist apologized and told us that she would try harder the next day.

As we turned to walk out the door, I spoke coldly to Mr. Cullen one last time.

"Listen here and listen well. I don't like you, but for the sake of my education, I am willing to act professionally around you. We will not speak outside of what is required for course work and standard communication on school grounds. When we communicate, I will call you Mister Cullen or Cullen-san, and you will refer to me as Zuikaku, Miss Zuikaku, or Zuikaku-san. You will not acknowledge me and I will not acknowledge you outside of what our school work dictates. You may do whatever you wish as long as it is not detrimental to my academic performance or my own well being. Is that clear?"

He nodded stiffly.

"Don't just nod your head. Tell me yes or no." I said.

"Yes." He bit out.

"Do you accept those terms?"

"Yes."

"Excellent." I bowed to the Receptionist and slightly inclined my head to Mister Cullen, not even a proper bow. "Good day ma'am. And Mister Cullen, may you die a horrible death." And with that, I turned on my heel and strode out into the blustery wind. I was very eager to get to my Truck so I could go home. Any semblance of a good mood I had had been dashed to pieces and I was going to take a long hot shower when I got home.


End file.
